Travel companies target wedding planners for business

Travel and tourism companies are on the search for a strategic partner this wedding season: wedding planners. And it isn’t for altruistic reasons. With both outbound and inbound travel for weddings growing at a frenetic pace, travel and tourism firms want a larger share of the profit pie. And what better way to do it than to link up with the individuals behind all the big-weddings.

In fact, Richa Goyal Sikri, director of business development at STIC travels which already has a tie-up with some wedding planners and event designers, agrees that it has definitely given them an advantage, particularly in terms of targeting groups headed for destination weddings. Not only that, the tie-up has eventually led to an expansion of the scope of their services beyond just arrivals and transfers. “The whole reason behind a destination wedding is to give individuals the chance to bond with each other and we schedule an entire itinerary of interactive activities and even shopping sprees during that period,” says Sikri.

Club Med, a luxury travel company, has a different strategy to cash in on those capable of hosting big glitzy weddings in destinations like Mauritius, Maldives, Bali and Phuket. The company which targets the high end wedding market in India offers a rent-a-resort scheme for Indians interested in holding theme parties overseas.

“In fact, we have taken wedding planners to some of our top resorts and we feel that the option of renting out the entire resort is very attractive for Indian weddings. The entire resort will be available to the wedding parties and Indian families can even bring in their own chefs,” says Mumtaz Moiz, general manager, India, of Club Med.

Moreover, with Indian weddings becoming increasingly global, travel firms see another set of potential clients amongst foreign nationals who fly down to India to attend weddings. However, Laxmikant Patil, senior manager - products & operations, Thomas Cook, India says that the percentage of such foreigners is quite small and that the visits generally last anywhere between 10-14 days making it possible for them to travel only to short-haul destinations like Jaipur, Kerala or Ooty. Another business opportunity that companies like Thomas-Cook find interesting is that of playing the role of a single service provider for those families based out of metros like Mumbai and Delhi who choose to have their weddings at small locations outside the city like Lonavala, Daman, Surajkund or Manesar.

Despite the new avenues that seem to be opening up, travel and tourism companies however maintain that honeymoon travel is still the main area of focus during the wedding season. The only difference this year is that the choice of destinations for honeymoons seems to have shifted towards those that offer new attractions & activities such as skiing, self-driving facilities in luxury sedans, spa therapies, luxury cruises, castle-stay and helicopter rides, says Kashmira Commissariat, COO of the Outbound Division at Kuoni India.